This session will discuss recently issued accounting and auditing guidance that impacts employee benefit plans as well as employee benefit plan-related hot topics, common pitfalls, and best practices. There also will be a discussion about relevant tools and resources that can be used to assist in identifying and applying recent guidance.

Learning Objectives:

• Assess current trends and hot topics in the areas of accounting, reporting, and auditing for employee benefit plans.
• Evaluate the relevant tools and resources available to assist in applying recent accounting and auditing guidance.

This is a practical, interactive session where practitioners from firms of different sizes share the tools and staffing models that have measurably improved audit efficiency. Attendees will learn how to select and implement specific technologies and resourcing approaches. Additionally, there will be information on lessons learned with change management, as well as simple ways to track the impact of tools and staffing models on quality, budget, and timelines.

Learning Objectives:

• Determine audit tools and staffing solutions that improve efficiency while maintaining quality.
• Analyze lessons learned from firms of varying sizes on implementing technology and alternative staffing models, such as co-sourcing, offshore/onshore, and specialized roles.
• Apply practical tips and basic metrics to measure adoption and efficiency gains in engagements.

SOC 1 reports are essential for understanding the controls at service organizations that impact employee benefit plan audits but using them correctly can be challenging. This session will dive into the most common errors auditors make when relying on SOC reports and provide strategies to avoid inspection findings related to their use. This session will cover how to properly document and leverage SOC 1 reports in your audit process, ensuring compliance and audit quality. Session presenters will share real-world stories— “For the Love of SOC”—highlighting lessons learned from actual files. The session will also cover best practices for documenting SOC 1 reliance and integrating findings into the overall risk assessment. Designed for auditors and plan sponsors, this presentation will help demystify SOC 1 reports and enhance audit quality and compliance.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify common errors auditors make when reviewing and relying on SOC 1 reports in employee benefit plan audits.
• Apply best practices to properly document and use SOC reports.
• Analyze real-world examples to understand practical challenges and solutions when incorporating SOC reports.

AuditMiner has taken payroll and recordkeeper reconciliation to the next level. In this session, you’ll see how the platform continues to evolve, with forthcoming capabilities like demographic data integration and auto-mapping that will further transform how auditors and plan sponsors manage payroll data.

This deep-dive walkthrough highlights how AuditMiner's new features enables auditors to:

• Automatically reconcile payroll and recordkeeper data with precision
• Integrate demographic insights to build a complete and accurate census
• Streamline implementation with intelligent auto-mapping of columns
• Save hours of manual work through with automated audit-ready outputs

If you’re an audit firm looking to increase efficiency, this session will help you see exactly how AuditMiner’s payroll module drives audit confidence without complexity.

This session will explore the cyber security threats that define your operational risk landscape, examine how artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to reshape that landscape, and outline how cyber liability insurance can help mitigate the financial and legal consequences of these risks. The goal for this session is to create awareness of the cyber risks associated with sponsoring and operating a retirement plan and to help plan sponsors to perform risk assessment processes to better mitigate these risks and understand the insurance landscape to insure against such risks.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the cyber risks associated with sponsoring and operating a retirement plan.
• Recognize risk assessment processes to better mitigate cyber risks and while understanding the insurance landscape to insure against such risks.

In this session, a practicing ERISA attorney (also with 12 years of plan investment advisor experience) will examine pending litigation and recent litigation outcomes affecting qualified retirement plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and other service providers. 

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze plan operations and records to identify potential fiduciary, prohibited transactions, and other ERISA compliance issues.
• Recognize plan and investment policy statement language that may permit or prevent specific plan features or operations, such as the use of forfeitures or the inclusion of private equity among the plan's investments.

This session is specifically designed to assist participants in performing or considering performing pooled employer plan (PEP) audits. Participants will gain valuable insights into the considerations that should be made before accepting a PEP engagement, as well as how to anticipate and address challenges encountered in PEP audits. Listen to employee benefit plan (EBP) audit experts discuss issues they encounter in performing PEP audits and the strategies used to address them. Presenters will discuss their experiences and challenges related to understanding the entity and obtaining sufficient appropriate audit evidence. Attendees will also have an opportunity to ask questions of the experts.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the nature of PEPs and how they differ from other plan types.
• Identify unique accounting and auditing issues impacting PEPs and best practices.

This session will provide attendees with an overview of financial reporting requirements for government pension plans. Attendees will learn about types of government pension plans and other post-employment benefits (OPEB) plans, the financial reporting requirements, and common reporting errors that may be encountered. Additionally, session participants will be presented with information regarding the types of required supplementary information for each pension plan.

Learning Objectives:

• Compare the types of government pension and other post-employment benefits (OPEB) plans and the key similarities and differences between each.
• Identify the financial reporting requirements for government pension and OPEB plans, and the common financial reporting errors encountered
• Determine the types of required supplementary information for each type of pension and OPEB plan and the sources for such information.

This session will provide an update from the Chief Accountant's office on some of the current projects they are working on, and other information that is important for plan auditors to understand.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify issues and areas that cause benefit plan audit deficiencies.
• Recognize the different enforcement programs the Office of the Chief Accountant utilizes.

This session will equip auditors on how to adapt risk assessment and audit procedures in light of payroll processes and payroll compliance requirements. Attendees will analyze various definitions of compensation and will consider how prevailing wages can have an impact on an employee benefit plan audit.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify audit guidance applicable to understanding and testing payroll.
• Analyze an audit approach for testing payroll.
• Differentiate between various definitions of compensation and how they apply to EBP audits.
• Determine prevailing wage audit implications and risks.

You have uncovered an error in the audit of your retirement plan client. Documenting that an error occurred and moving on will not satisfy auditing standards. An auditor needs to understand the impact of the error on the financial statements and tax-qualified status of the plan. Session attendees will learn about common errors identified in a retirement plan audit and how to address the impact on the financial statements. Additionally, the presenters will go through the correction methods available to plan sponsors so that attendees can feel confident in assessing the impact of the error on the financial statements. Attendees will also learn strategies to help guide clients to ensure that necessary corrections will be made to bring the plan back into compliance so that the tax-qualified status of the plan will not be jeopardized.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze correction methods of common errors uncovered in an audit.
• Identify how to address the impact of an error on the audit and how to guide a plan sponsor to help with necessary corrections of the error.

Release stress and tension with gentle stretches done right from your chair. Experience a few guided relaxation techniques to support your mental health through self-awareness, stress relief and nervous system regulation. Leave feeling relaxed and refreshed with tools you can easily recreate to use on your own! Beginners welcome.

This session will use an illustration of the Form 5500 return to perform a practical overview of Form 5500 and its related schedules. Attendees will focus on what auditors need to consider when determining if the form is “substantially complete” and when comparing to audited financial statements.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify material inconsistencies between Form 5500 and the financial statements.
• Analyze practical insights and tips to efficiently review a Form 5500 through illustrative examples.
• Apply the AICPA EBP AQC Form 5500 considerations for auditors as a resource when reviewing Form 5500.

This session clarifies the definition of control risk, how it differs from inherent risk, and why and when auditors assess control risk. Using employee benefit plan (EBP) examples, attendees will learn about the typical areas of reliance on operating effectiveness, as well as the related considerations, pros and cons, and pitfalls.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize control risk and related control risk factors.
• Identify examples where a test of controls may effectively reduce substantive testing.

This is an opportunity for participants to have questions answered by various experts.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify information in critical plan audit areas.
• Recognize questions asked by attendees.